Gnomish Ruminations

thedailywhat:

Optical Illusion of the Day: Spinning Illusion of the Chocolate Zoetrope

This zoetrope on display at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory in Melbourne, Australia features a round wheel of chocolate bird characters that appear to come to life as the device spins.

the-science-llama:

If Earth Had Rings

First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.

However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.

Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.

During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.

Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9
— Click the photos for captions

(via capbrolet)

(Source: elisaskin, via yeahkatielouise)

evanescentembers:

rejectmediocrity:

sharnacious:

When I first got to Seattle, I took a walk around my new neighbourhood, Greenlake, to get to know the place. And by that I mean I went and found the nearest fro-yo shop. As I was rounding the corner back to my house I saw the most glorious thing sitting on the sidewalk: that cat, right there. That glorious, weird-faced cat. He came right up to me and we had a cuddle and I made sure to take a picture. Mostly because how can you verbally describe that face, am I right? 

I went inside and was all, “So, Lauren, there’s this weird looking cat.” And she’s all, “The white shaved one with the face?” And I was all, “YEAH!” That’s how that conversation went. She told me that he hangs around the neighbourhood and is super friendly. 

After that, every time I left the house or came home, I was hoping to run into the cat again. When I went out the other day for a walk (read: to get fro-yo), he was across the street chillin’. Maybe a little bit of illin’. (I have no idea what that means.) But this time he had a name tag.

AND IT SAID “MISTER FACE”.

Holy shit. That may be the most perfect name for that cat. I can’t even… Ugh, too good. 

Anyway, I think Mister Face should be famous on the Internet. He’s obviously way more fantastic than all those other Internet cats (sorry beloved Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub, but it’s true). The only problem is that I’m afraid of Reddit. And everyone knows Reddit is how cats become famous. 

So somebody who is not afraid of Reddit should post some pictures of Mister Face so he can become famous. Then when people are all, “Excuse me, ma’am, could you hold the elevator for me?” I can be all, “Um, I discovered Mister Face. What have you done?” as the door closes in their face. 

MR….FACE….

what AN ABSOLUTE CUTIE LOOK AT THOSE EYES

I LOVE IT! GIMME!